© Richard Randall

DAHAB and ASILAH

Briefly back in Nuweiba, after we disembarked the boat from Jordan, we were looking forward to getting to Dahab for some total rest and relaxation after a busy time in Jordan. As we neared the custom officials they separated us 'foreigners' from the local people and told us to wait. There were about twelve of us all together, travelling in about four different groups of friends. Richard and I were the only people from the U.K. The other people were mainly from Australia and a couple of Americans. Anyway, we waited and we waited. Nothing. We were locked in behind this huge padlocked gate, and it soon became clear that we were only being detained for the amusement of the custom official, each to his own! Eventually after what felt like days they finally let us leave, and we all made a run for the two solitary taxi's that were waiting nearby. The taxi drivers said that they could each take five people, we agreed a price and Richard and I sat together in the front of one of the cars, and three of the Australian girls sat behind us. We travelled quite a distance but it didn't take that long as our driver had his foot flat to the floor for the whole trip. This was great for getting us there quick, but as the passenger door didn't shut properly it left me clinging on for dear life! Suffice to say I was very happy when we were dropped off near to the Mohammed Aly Camp. This was at the bottom end of the Mazbat, which is the local name for the strip of beachfront cafes and shops that run north to the lighthouse. To the south is the area known as Mashrabat, which was were we headed. We didn't know where we were going to stay, it was simply a case of going in to each place along the way and having a look at the accommodation. Once again I can't remember the name of the place we stayed at, which is a shame because I would recommend it. It was practically the last one along the beach southwards before a 'posh' hotel. It could have been called the Blue Parrot? Anyway, our room was large, en-suite, with an electric fan, padlock on the door, and a large outside lounging area, like an open sided tent. We had heard before we got to Dahab that it is one of those places that you either love or hate. That you would initially intend to stay for just one night and end up staying much longer, or that you would plan to stay for a couple of weeks and leave after only one night. We thought we would probably fall into the the latter category, that we would not like it and probably leave the next day. Well, we were wrong, very wrong. We loved it. Which was just as well because I doubt we could have moved on even if we had wanted to. Richard was very unwell. We had decided to go to Dahab to chill out so it wasn't that we had anything big planned, which was good as most days Richard couldn't roam too far from the facilities of our room! When we did venture further down the beach we usually ended up in one of our favourite bars, surprise surprise! The building of one of the bars we frequented was shaped like a boat, with signs two signs above one said 'Dahab', the other said 'Dublin', which made us laugh. The atmosphere there was great, especially at night during 'happy hour'. The food was excellent too, lots of pasta dishes, and the best breakfasts in the area. It was whilst we were sitting along the beach in one of the restaurants that we saw a familiar face, it was a guy we had got chatting to in Siwa, seeing him again gave us an excuse for a beer or two! Everyone in Dahab was really friendly, although up our end of the beach we felt quite old compared to most of the other travellers ~ and we were a lot younger then that we are now! There were a few places where we could use the internet, one of which was always popular and busy because the keyboards didn't have too many sticky keys and the connection was quite fast. There was a also a good sized supermarket which sold all of the basics, and further along there were some jewellery shops and hippy tat shops. The main interest in Dahab was diving so obviously there were diving related purchasing opportunities everywhere. All along the front, right next to the water there were restaurants, most of which had lots of blankets, rugs, and cushions all over the floor which is where we sat to eat. There wasn't anything negative about Dahab for us, except as with a lot of the places we visited in Egypt, the flies. In Dahab they were particularly prevalent, which meant that meals had to be consumed at speed. No stopping to savour the mouthful, as the flies were more than happy to take up residence on your plate, and even on your fork as it travelled to your mouth ... nice! We hadn't decided how long we were going to stay in Dahab, we just took it day by day. Our hotel let us pay for our accommodation a couple of days at a time, which meant we just kept asking to stay a little longer. In the end we stayed for a couple of weeks, although it felt a lot less. I recently saw a television programme on a travel channel, and I thought I recognised the beach, I did, it was Dahab. The presenter said that although much of the place hadn't changed for years there were signs of major development. She said that if you wanted to experience Dahab at it's basic best then you would need to visit sooner rather than later, before the five star hotels changed the place forever. I would say that we loved Dahab, it was so chilled and had a cool hedonistic vibe, it will be a shame when the down market 'hotels' are pushed out by the more luxurious ones. Having said that there is nothing nicer than going into one of the five star hotel bars, as we often did whilst in Dahab, and enjoying a nice cold drink, and appreciating the air conditioning, especially when you are staying in more basic surroundings. We always make good use of the best hotels wherever we are staying ... it would be rude not to! After a wonderful couple of weeks being completely lazy in Dahab, Richard was feeling a little better, and we felt like going back to Cairo.

CAIRO

After an early start and a seven hour bus journey we arrived back home in Cairo. By this time we really had begun to think of Cairo as home, it all felt so familiar and comfortable. We had decided that we were going to go back to the U.K. We spent about a week in Cairo and then one day we went to the airport hoping to get a flight. As is quite usual for us we hadn't booked a flight, we just took a taxi from our hotel to the airport. We had already agreed a price with the taxi driver before getting in the car. About five minutes up the road from our hotel the taxi driver decided that he wanted to charge us more than we had agreed, he asked us if we had enough money on us. Cheek. So we told him to stop the car as we wanted to get out and get another taxi. So then the driver said he would take us for the original price. We got out anyway, and walked back to our hotel to call another taxi, the man on the reception was obviously very surprised to see us. He had said when we left that we were welcome back anytime, I don't think he expected to see us so soon! It wasn't long before we were in another taxi and on our way to the airport. Once we got to the airport we found that the only available flights were seriously expensive, and as we were not in any particular hurry to leave, we decided not to purchase any tickets. Instead we got a taxi back to central Cairo to a travel agents, where we bought two tickets to London, at about a third of the price they wanted at the airport Excellent. Except that the flight went via Budapest, and it didn't leave for hours ... and hours ... and hours! Oh well, we were happy, and we are very experienced at wasting time! So we got yet another taxi back to the airport, where we waited ... and waited ... and waited. It was quite interesting sitting outside the airport, on the floor, watching everyone coming and going. Well it was for the first few hours, after that it got kind of old! There was a bit of excitement at one point when we were approached by some heavily armed policemen. They wanted to move us on, apparently we were making the place look untidy! Once they had seen our passports and tickets they seemed to be bored with us, and went off to bother someone else. Many hours later it was finally time to check in for our Budapest bound flight. There was only a handful of passengers waiting for our flight, and yet we were still all left standing outside right until the last minute before we were checked in and given our boarding passes. Once we were through to air side there was just enough time to get a drink before we had to board the plane. As it turned out it was just as well as hardly anything was open so we would have been bored stiff if we had had to wait in the departure lounge for too long. The flight to Budapest passed without incident, all we had to do now was change planes and we were on our way to London. No excitement on the Budapest to London flight either, we were back in the U.K. We had been away for over three months, we both thoroughly enjoyed every single day of our Egyptian travels. Although we did managed to see so many amazing sights whilst in Egypt we only scraped the surface of what truly is a fantastic country. One day we would both love to go back to Egypt and see even more of the sights, you could spend a lifetime there and still have places to visit. We have wonderful happy memories of all of it, the people, the crowds, the smells, the long cramped public transport journeys, the heat, the food, and even the dysentery!

Caribbean

Sundries

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Oceania